Bad News For Lithium-Ion Investors?

First, the good news: According to the newspaper, the Daiwa Institute of Research projects that sales of lithium-ion batteries will more than double by 2020, reaching $22.3 billion annually. A year ago, the sales figure was $9.1 billion.

But here’s the bad news: The newspaper suggests that a multitude of Japanese companies are rushing to raise production, potentially creating a future situation in which supply exceeds demand. As a result, battery prices could plummet, even while the cost of creating the batteries is still high.

Battery experts have repeatedly told us that they don’t foresee a time when lithium-ion battery costs will drop below $300/kW-hr. If that’s true, and if The Wall Street Journal’s production assessment is accurate, don’t be surprised if we see makers of plug-in hybrids starting to search for some less costly battery alternatives. After all, manufacturers of plug-ins don’t necessarily need lithium-ion’s long range as much as the pure electric vehicles need it.

Lithium-ion battery prices will drop rapidly over the next 10 years, setting the stage for plug-in vehicles to reach 5%-10% of total automotive sales by the mid- to late-2020s, according to a new study.

Advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS) are poised to become a $102 billion market by 2030, but just a sliver of that technology will be applied to cars that can be fully autonomous in all conditions, according to a new study.

Using a headset and a giant ultra-high definition display, Ford Motor Co. last week provided a glimpse of how virtual reality enabled its engineers to collaborate across continents on the design of its new GT supercar.

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